Run Rumspringa
by lamatikah
Summary: It doesn't seem right, somehow. Not decent. Summer vacation was for chilling with friends. Not falling through weird tunnels and into the arms of some redheaded prince. akuroku soriku.
1. pr: Summer Vacation

**disclaimer:** i own nothing of course.  
**pairing/s:** akuroku, soriku, potentially more to come  
**warning/s:** terrible things happening to good people

* * *

Run Rumspringa

**- Summer Vacation -  
**(prologue)

* * *

_Taking over this town_  
_They should worry_

* * *

Summer vacation. Sweet, endless summer vacation.

"Breathe it in, boys, smell that freedom."

"Hayner, we still have last period."

"Yeah Hayner! And don't forget about all the homework we'll get."

"You shut your mouths. Do not ruin this for me."

Hayner turned to Roxas, "Tell me at least _you're_ excited, Rox."

Roxas pulled a face, scrunching it up. Olette was right; they still had another lesson, and it was with the tightest teacher in the school. They would probably be working up till the bell. Past the bell. But then, he guessed, yeah, then it would be glorious vacation time. Pence was wrong though. Homework was not something you think about during vacation. What a dumb suggestion.

"Bring it on, Hay."

"Awesome."

Hayner and Roxas clasped hands in an excited, familiar gesture. A relic from times pre-dating perhaps even elementary. Olette sighed loudly, but contentedly.

"All right, all right. Let's get to this class," she said, throwing her arms out and leading the boys by their backs.

* * *

Roxas thought about that conversation a lot as he was forcibly carted towards wherever kingdom of the whatever people. The day after he had been promised freedom and ice cream and glorious, glorious vacation time, he had been told to pack his bags because some distant relative was having a birthday or a funeral or something. And now they were headed to mostly cold, mostly wet Radiant Garden to visit them.

Roxas leant his forehead against the car window and breathed in slowly. He stuck his tongue out unattractively breathing out but he didn't care. Why should he care? No one he cared about was in Radiant Garden.

"Stop moping, Roxas," came the helpful comment from his brother.

"Shut up, Sora."

"OK, cool."

Roxas narrowed his eyes at Sora, a year younger than him, but catching up on sass years. And Roxas didn't like it.

"Yeah, Roxas, cool your jets," added his father, chuckling at the stupid phrase. Roxas hated stupid phrases. He sent a glare to the front of the car too, just for safe measure.

Roxas replied with a quick-witted classic, "What does that even mean?" He snuggled back in his seat and crossed his arms over his knees.

"How the hell am I meant to know, boy? Now shut up griping in the back, you two. It's another ten hours till we even reach Hollow Bastion."

"How long is it from Hollow Bastion?" asked Sora casually, scratching the window softly. Roxas could see the beginnings of rain out there.

"Four hours."

A mass groan ensued from the back.

"Griping. Quit it."

Approximately fifteen hours, a disowned father, four sea salt ice creams, and a re-owned father later, the Highwind family finally reached their destination. Although Roxas had literally zero bearings on where exactly that was, having fallen asleep before they even got into Hollow Bastion, and waking up as they pulled into the driveway of a sweet little blue cottage. Flowers decorated the window sills and fragrant buds were blossoming on a beautiful tree in the front garden.

It was hideous.

Roxas rolled his eyes and grabbed his rucksack from the back of the car, punching Sora awake on his way out.

"Ow, geez."

Roxas followed his dad to the front door, wrinkling his nose at the gross tree and its smell. He immediately regretted this move however, when the door was opened by a beautiful brunette maybe a few years older than him. She had spotted Roxas's spontaneous but momentary face scrunch.

"Oh," she said, with a gentle voice. She looked very concerned. "Do you not like my tree?"

"Uh," said Roxas. "No – it's not that, I just- uh…"

"I'm just messing with you," she laughed, the pink bow in her hair jiggling slightly. "Ha ha, I'm so funny."

Roxas scrunched his face up again.

"All right, all right, Aerith. Show us through. I'm gonna need a coffee," his dad grumbled, lugging two hefty suitcases through the doorway. "Sora! Get out the car!"

Sora yelled something in reply and promptly tumbled out the car, having gotten stuck in his seatbelt.

"This way, Uncle Cid," said Aerith as she led them in.

Cid continued to grumble as he entered the house. Roxas caught snippets. But didn't really care that much. "Told you not to call me uncle, I ain't your uncle. Damn kids."

The inside wasn't as bad as the outside Roxas supposed. Although the wallpaper was a bland kind of yellow he associated more with the council estate back in Twilight Town, but it was all devoid of any loud and unattractive flowers which was a plus. Aerith, the pretty but distinctly _un_funny girl, led them down the corridor a little way to a set of wooden stairs.

"Uncle Cid, your room is on the left just there, and boys, you have the room just past that. If you come down in about twenty minutes, I'll have dinner ready!" And with that, she skipped away towards the sound of a television.

"Oh good, they have a TV then," commented Sora, heaving his heavy satchel towards the room.

"Yeah, I suppose so," replied Roxas, wondering why if Sora was going to bring so much, he didn't just took it in a suitcase rather than jam it all into his school bag.

"You don't sound too- mother of Yevon."

Sora had opened the door to the room.

"What! What is it?"

Roxas raced to see what was inside. From floor to ceiling, the walls were covered in grotesquely bright princess pattern. Sparkly golden crowns and shiny smiling faces of beloved cartoon heroines in pink and purple dresses leered down from all angles. The effect was terrifying, only made worse by the lack of artistic finesse in the paintings.

"They look a bit melty, don't they?" said Sora after they had both had their moment to take it in. He threw his hefty bag down onto one of the single beds that Roxas hadn't noticed before then, being so shadowed by the manifold of princess grimaces.

"I've definitely seen better." Roxas took his own rucksack and put it on the floor by his bed. He hopped up onto the mattress and laid back. It wasn't too bad, comfort wise, but looking up he saw the major issue. "How are we meant to sleep with them watching us?"

Sora too sprang up onto his bed and stared above him. "Close your eyes?"

They both tried.

"No good," said Roxas, though not wanting to open his eyes, knowing the actual sight was worse than merely the knowledge of their visages. In a conspiratorial whisper he added, "I know they're there."

Sora shuddered. "Ugh."

"I dealt with them by really tuckering myself out during the day, then by the time I got in bed I was too tired to care," came a female voice from the door.

Roxas leapt up from the bed and heard Sora do the same. Lingering by the doorframe with a snarky smile was a girl about the same age as that Aerith person. She laughed at their embarrassment before entering, and sitting on a rocking chair at the foot of Sora's bed.

"Hi, I'm Yuffie. I'm your cousin that you've never met."

Roxas and Sora looked at each other.

"Ohhh," said Sora. "_Ohhhhhhhhh_, hi, yeah, Yuffie. _Yuffie_."

"Or heard of apparently," added Yuffie.

"Yeah, well, dad doesn't talk much about family, so y'know," Roxas told her. But she intrigued him; Roxas hadn't met many family members before and he always wondered whether there were particular family traits he had picked up, or even if he looked a bit like someone else who wasn't Sora. Yuffie had a small, round face which he supposed was similar to his in a way. But her black hair and long legs were just the opposite of what Roxas had always presumed to be Highwind attributes.

"That's all right," she said, crossing her legs over Sora's bed and leaning back in the chair. "We're not a particularly talkative family at the best of times. "Aerith's my cousin, by the way. As in my mom's brother's daughter. But you're cousins on my dad's side. I thought you'd like me to clear that up." She gave them an over-dramatic wink. "Oh, she was also the perpetrator behind the beautiful murals in here. We used to share this room and she did them without permission when we were about ten and my mom punished her by saying she was never going to take them down. Ha ha, now you have to sleep here."

Yuffie laughed. Roxas and Sora did too, but somewhat nervously. Their cousin seemed a little intense.

"Let's go downstairs and meet the gang, yeah?" She jumped up and gestured for them to follow.

Downstairs in the room with the TV, their dad had already managed to make himself a space at the settee with a bottle of beer. He grunted a non-committal greeting to Yuffie without turning from the blitzball game on the screen. Next to him was a taller blond guy who must have been Yuffie's dad. If Roxas was honest, he looked a bit like a more put-together Cid. He gracefully slid from the settee and sidled over to the Roxas and his brother.

"Hello, boys! It's a pleasure to finally meet you both. I'm your Uncle Ansem. I'm afraid I probably won't see much of you while you're here as I tend to be quite busy but I do hope you enjoy your summer here," and then he left to the kitchen, giving Yuffie an affectionate pat on the head as he left.

Yuffie leapt towards another sofa and lay herself across it. She pointed across the room to an old man with a very long beard, getting extremely excited by the match on TV.

"And that's Poppa Merlin. Say hi, Pops!"

Poppa Merlin waved a hand but didn't look away from the TV. Roxas could see where his own dad had got the trait from.

"Is that everyone then?" asked Sora.

"Pretty much. My mom's away on business all summer, but usually she lives here."

"Don't you?" asked Roxas.

"No, I moved out ages ago. Destiny Isles Uni. It's just Aerith, Mom and Pops who live here now. I said I'd stay for the summer though – so I could help out. Dad's only here to say hi to Uncle Cid. So, what do you wanna do after dinner?"

Roxas decided Sora could answer for him. He was too tired for Yuffie's energy. He sat down next to dad, and let himself be immersed in the blitzball game until they were called for lunch.

* * *

After lunch, Sora and Roxas followed Yuffie towards the nearest park where she said the swings were "sick". The evening air felt mellow and bright, unlike the cloying atmosphere back at Twilight Town with its humid evenings and heavy mornings. But Roxas quite liked that about his hometown. Radiant Garden was too fresh and too cold.

Light green trees lined the roadside on the way to the park, the streets were cobbled white and grey. In the distance, beyond the beautiful cottages and the lovely mansions of Radiant Garden, the castle rose tall and handsome. Roxas thought he would quite like to draw the castle when they got back.

"Does someone actually live in the castle, Yuffie?" asked Sora, noticing Roxas's gaze.

Yuffie stared at the two of them for a moment, taking it the question.

"Are you serious?" she said. "Only the royal family."

"There's a royal family?" Roxas piped up.

"Do you know nothing about Radiant Garden?"

"Yeah, pretty much," said Sora. "It's not exactly the biggest place ever. We hear more about places like Traverse Town and DI, you know. Closer. Bigger."

"More important," added Roxas.

Yuffie put her head in her hands jokingly.

"OK, so basically we have a regent at the moment because the prince isn't of age, so he doesn't live in Radiant Garden at the moment. He lives in Castle Oblivion as a ward, since his parents died when he was like two. And, though they'd never admit it, he was probably sent there for being a bit too … rebellious."

"Rebellious?" asked Roxas.

"Yeah, he'd go out and bang anyone he could find, and he smokes and drinks and probably took drugs. Not a very good image for the future King."

"Whoa," said Sora. "Can't believe dad's never told us about this place before."

Roxas could believe it more. His dad didn't tell them about much.

They finally made it there; a typically shitty park full of rowdy kids and sullen teenagers. Though he had to admit, the swings did look pretty decent. They headed over to the nearest bench, in front of the forest behind. The sunlight felt light and watery, compared to Twilight Town's sunlight. Sat down on the bench, Sora punched Roxas lightly on the arm.

"Why so glum, Rox?" he asked, smirking.

Roxas narrowed his eyes.

"It's just my face, Sora," he replied. Just as he always did when Sora asked that question. "It's just my face."

"Yeah, Sora," chimed Yuffie. "Some people just look naturally moody. Take my friend Squall for example."

"Squall?" chuckled Sora.

"The name matches the face, let me tell you."

Yuffie and Sora laughed together about how their faces effortlessly fell in a content way, while Roxas rolled his eyes. He got up, deciding he could search the forest behind them, away from the screaming children and Yuffie and Sora nattering on about whatever.

"Just going to get eaten by wolves," he said as he left.

"Have fun, Rox," chimed Sora.

"Will do," he replied.

It only took ten minutes of walking before Roxas was lost.

"Oh," he remarked quietly to himself.

He turned on his heel to try and get back, but in doing so, Roxas realised suddenly how dark the place had become.

"Oh no," he said, clasping his hands.

It was getting cold too.

Through the thick foliage he couldn't hear any squawking children anymore, and apparently Radiant Garden was not the sort of place where the rush of cars could be heard from all places, unlike back home. He had literally no sense of where he was, or which direction to go in. Why couldn't he have just taken a path?

He clenched and unclenched his fist. He couldn't be too far into the forest. Roxas just decided to just keep walking, and surely he would find a way back. He rubbed the back of his neck and set off through the darkening undergrowth, catching his feet on roots twisted above ground, and big rocks. After about twenty minutes of walking in Yevon knows what direction, Roxas found himself tripping face first over a bigger pile of rocks than any of the others. Standing up, he realised that it was the crumbled bricks, having fallen from some sort of ancient, ruined tower. He hadn't been able to see it in the darkness, but as he sat on the ground staring up at it, its characteristics began to bloom as his eyes became accustomed to it in the light. It was only about six feet high and the roof had been completely blown off, presumably many years ago. A rotting wooden door hung off its hinges.

Roxas stood up and brushed himself off. He gently touched the mouldy door and pulled it to. Beyond was a short set of steps downwards, and beyond them – if he wasn't mistaken, Roxas was sure he could see a light.

A light!

He slowly stepped down the icy stone steps and entered the tunnel beneath. A cold electric light ran across the ceiling of the tunnel, far into the distance. Roxas bit his lip. He wasn't sure whether he should continue or not, but after another moment of deliberation, he figured that at least in the tunnel, there was direction and light and probably people, whereas in the woods there was confusion, darkness and distress.

He started his shaky way along the passage, and could feel that the floor was slowly rising. After walking for about five minutes down the stone grey tunnel he came to a turning, and just beyond the turning the tunnel ended in a heavy-looking door. Without thinking about it, Roxas started pulling at the door but it was too weighty. He clutched the door handle desperately, pressing it down over and over. He tugged it one last time, but still no luck. In his rushed yank though, he managed to push the door forward, and with a shocking lightness it opened and threw Roxas through the open door and down.

It was only a short fall, but Roxas felt his whole body screaming in agony upon landing on a hard laminated floor.

"Uhhhh," he groaned as he clutched his wrist. Which was hurting a lot.

He tried to open his eyes, but everything was blurry and Yevon he was just so tired.

He could see a ladder across from him, leading up to the door he had just fallen through. And he saw something bright red moving towards him. Something very red and very blurry. He thought about the conversation he had had with Hayner only the day before. About having a sweet, endless summer vacation.

He faintly heard the red and blurry shape say, "What the ... fuck ..."

But with one last groan and the sudden flashback image of one of those horrifying princess faces, Roxas passed out.

* * *

**an:** hello! please review if you even enjoyed it in the slightest, even if you liteally just write "k" or something. it makes me face go like this :D also i like talking to people  
concrit is always helpful ofc and equally if there are any spelling/grammar errors (i'm so bad sometimes omg), and if you have any particular pairing preferences (other than the whole soriku / akuroku things obvs) then feel free to suggest them! literally any other character in kingdom hearts, and i can pop them in as long as it works. i just love love, y'know. also re: the soriku part of the story, i'm not sure whether to make it part of this one, or do a spin-off. what would prefer?

the title is taken from the song by Alex Winston


	2. ch1: Injured

**disclaimer:** i own nothing  
**pairing/s:** akuroku, soriku, definitely more to come  
**warning/s:** terrible things happening to good people?

* * *

Run Rumspringa

**- Injured -  
**(chapter one)

* * *

_But these problems aside  
I think I taught you well_

* * *

Roxas felt car sick. His head hurt a lot and his arm was – whoa, his arm felt as though it had been crushed under a sledgehammer. He tried to touch it, but it was covered in a cast.

"Whaaaa-?" he asked the world, opening his eyes slowly, eyelids fluttering apprehensively.

"What the fuck?" said a happy voice to his right.

Roxas groggily sat up, clutching his pained head. He felt like he had been running for a long time in a very long dream. He suddenly noticed how he was in a bed, and not just any old cot. This was a huge double bed, from which a view through wall-high French windows led into a beautiful garden, covered in purple and blue and yellow flowers; tall, majestic willow trees; and impressive statues.

"Ahem," came the voice to his right again. Roxas turned suddenly to see someone a couple of years older than him, sat in a rickety wooden chair, and smirking with a look that made Roxas think he wasn't entirely trustworthy. He had bright red hair and faint tear drop tattoos beneath his eyes. "I'll repeat, shall I? What – the fuck?"

Roxas's eyes widened with sudden realisation.

He couldn't say what the fuck, because he had no idea of the fuck. He was in a stranger's bed with a strange arm cast and cuts and bruises all up his arms and legs and probably his face too. He turned to look at the strange man, his eyes narrowing in cautious suspicion.

"Are you," he began, "a … kidnapper?"

The stranger stared at Roxas with his impossibly green eyes for a moment before bursting into laughter.

"Am I-" he spluttered, unable to get his words out through the hilarity. "Am _I_ a kidnapper? Holy shit, holy shit."

Roxas furrowed his brows. This guy clearly had more of a sense of what was going on than Roxas; why was he asking him the fuck, when he obviously already knew the fuck what was going on. Roxas suddenly thought to check his phone, before remembering it had run out of battery the day before during the car trip. He felt very sick all of a sudden.

"Look, my family don't know where I am and I really-"

The guy quirked an eyebrow, which shut Roxas up. He suddenly felt very sheepish around this person, but there was something so – snarky about him that made Roxas feel as though it probably wouldn't take much for him to fly off the handle at him.

"OK, so my name is Axel. Hi," said the guy – said Axel. When Roxas showed no sign of recognition he looked taken aback. "Huh," he breathed. "Well – your name is Roxas, right?"

How did he know who he was?

"How do I know who you are, right?" he said, reading Roxas's mind. "Your family issued a missing persons call, so I figured that was you. We called them, told them the situation, they said OK, you should stay here to rest up and then you can be on your way."

"What," Roxas licked his lips, trying to word in his mind the many questions he wanted to ask. He settled on what he hoped could be a simple one. This guy spoke too much at once. It was annoying. "What _is_ the situation?"

"Why don't we go for a walk, Roxas? It's a nice day and you can walk now, right?" The guy was still smirking. Like it was imprinted onto his face. Ugh.

"I don't know," he replied. Still confused, still in someone else's bed, still with literally no bearings whatsoever on what the hell was going on.

"Sure you can, you just get up and start moving, and if you feel a tinge of pain, well that's you're your body telling you you've been immobile for the past day or so."

Roxas froze still. "What?"

"Come on; get a move on, before the sun goes down."

Roxas stumbled out of the bed, feeling incredibly unsteady on his feet, but just managing to hold himself up. He noticed his ankle was swollen and bruised looking. It was painful to step on it. "Ugh," he muttered, following the redheaded stranger towards the French windows.

A cooling flash of fresh air breezed in as they were opened, making Roxas shiver slightly. He huddled his hands against himself, hugging his bare arms, regretting the choice to wear a T-shirt. The hairs on his arms stood on end and he felt as though he had never been this uncomfortable before in his whole life.

The stranger turned around and saw him hunched over like a little old lady. He huffed a small, involuntary chuckle, for a moment just watching Roxas. Roxas narrowed his eyes slightly, not appreciating the creep treatment. He watched Axel stride over to a chest of drawers and leaf through several items of clothing before throwing a light sweater in his direction. Roxas picked it up sluggishly, bending down at the hips on awkward, sore legs. He glared at the sweater, guarded and puzzled.

"Put it on, dork," Axel said after a few moments of uneasy silence as Roxas simply stared at the gift. "You just put your arms through it and – pop! – immediate warmth. Magic."

Roxas bit his lip, but put it on anyway. It was very warm, and infinitely soft. Roxas didn't know clothes could be this soft.

"Come _on_, Roxas," drawled Axel, gesturing towards the garden.

Roxas took a few shaky steps towards the windows, nearly falling over.

"Oh Yevon, you're like my grandmother," Axel complained, marching over and bending low, pulling Roxas's arm round his neck to help support him. "Come on, let's go."

Roxas decided to just go along with the madman. Although he was starting to question why he was trusting him with the information provided – how could he be sure that Sora and Cid knew where he was? What if he was lying? What if he had been kidnapped by some terribly fancy man with a huge bed and amazing grounds? What if Sora was running around panicked; probably throwing himself at strangers to ask them whether he had seen him. Despite his concerns however, Roxas didn't feel the inner turmoil he usually associated with anxiety. In fact, he felt at ease now.

Axel's arm was warm by his neck and the sweater was so comfy.

They began a stroll round the gardens, neither saying a word. It was very lovely; the grass was lush and thick, but cut in perfectly straight lines. Flowers were dotted in patterns and tessellations around various parts of the fields. Thin, tall trees rose around each garden in neat formation, blanking out the rest of the world. The two boys followed a white gravel path around the edge, just in from the trees, and took a left turn towards a fountain in the middle of the main ground. It sparkled prettily in the late afternoon as they sat on its rim.

Roxas turned to Axel, more confident, and more awake, now.

"So why am I here?"

"Right." Axel had a slow, droll way of speaking. It was irritating Roxas a lot. "The short story is that you fell down a fire escape like an idiot and managed to knock yourself out, whilst simultaneously break an arm and twist your ankle. So I got a doctor, he put you on painkillers, gave you a cast, and then you were just sort of in and out of sleep for ages. It was so boring. But the doctor said I could look after you when you woke up. And here we are."

Roxas mused upon this. It made sense. Now that Axel had said it; he could remember falling down the fire escape – although at the time, he had just thought it was an end to a tunnel. He hadn't expected such a huge fall between door and floor. Roxas felt that still didn't fully answer his question though.

"Yes, but who _are_ you?"

"I cannot believe I have to tell you this."

"I cannot believe you are dragging this out so much."

For some reason, Axel found Roxas's backtalk hilarious. "I'm so glad they I decided to look after you."

"Aren't we all," Roxas remarked snidely.

"I'm Prince Axel, rightful heir to the throne of Radiant Garden."

Oh.

"Oh."

Oh.

Of course. Of freaking course. Only Roxas could manage to drop himself into the lap of some dangerous, drug-addict, alcoholic, creepy prince of the most vanilla kingdom in the history of ever on the most vanilla family holiday in the history of ever.

"But then," said Roxas, "why are you looking after me? Don't you have doctors and nurses?"

"Well," said Axel, looking across to the sunset. He paused, for an unnaturally long time. Roxas wondered if he should say something to fill the awkward silence. "Well, my ward thinks I should be more responsible before taking the throne."

"What, so I'm like your guinea pig? To test out whether you can have a puppy?"

Axel shrugged, grinning. "Somethin' like that I guess."

Roxas side-eyed Axel, trying not to look too angry. He didn't want to upset this clearly unbalanced, unruly king-to-be. Although maybe he should kick off a bit, see if Axel could deal with it. Maybe if that would stop a crazy person from ascending to a rank that gives him control over an army.

"So are you not from here or something then, Rox?" asked Axel, casually throwing his arms over the back of the bench, though he could not have missed how his arm grazed Roxas's neck in doing so.

"The name's Roxas," he growled. Axel looked down at him, a little pompously, as though he wasn't used to people telling him he was wrong. Roxas blushed though and looked down, decidedly ashamed, he couldn't explain it any other way; he just didn't want to get on the bad side of a state leader, it wasn't anything to do with Axel's eyes. "I'm from Twilight Town."

"Oh, cool. I have a few friends who go to college there."

Roxas narrowed his eyes. "Twilight Town doesn't have a college."

"It was worth a shot. Gotta at least try to be diplomatic and all."

Roxas couldn't help a little smile slip then, but he quickly recovered from it, and went back to his usual deadpan expression. He could tell Axel had noticed the smile though, because he had withdrawn his arm from behind Roxas's neck so he could lean further forward and turn just slightly further towards him.

"So if Twilight Town doesn't have a college, where are you gonna go?"

Roxas shrugged, not wanting engage in case Axel tried to get closer.

"Wherever will take me I guess."

"You should go to Radiant Garden. It's a really good school."

Roxas nodded limply. He had actually considered Radiant Garden in the past. It was a good school, and did the course he wanted. He sighed and chuckled, putting his head in his hands.

"Do you know people who go to Radiant Garden then?" he asked through his hands.

Axel leant back against the bench and looked towards the sunset again.

"Not – exactly. But I've been there a few times, on official business of course," he said 'official business' in a grave voice and then grinned jokily at Roxas who felt kind enough to give him a weak smile in return. "It's really nice. The buildings are all really old, like the palace."

Roxas looked behind to where Axel's palace was sat, tall and dark. _Ugh_, he thought, _such a beautiful building._ Trying not to mention his lame love for architecture, Roxas hurriedly tried to find something else to talk about. He rushed for words and came up with, "It's a really beautiful building."

Damn it.

But Axel didn't seem phased. "It really is," he said, swinging round to look behind the bench too. They both watched the palace with its many lights flickering on and off in various windows. The breeze suddenly picked up, making the trees creak and the hedges whoosh. They watched as a dark cloud spread its murky limbs across the sky, above the palace and above them. The magic of being able to simply look at nice things in peace was broken.

"is it raining?" Axel asked the sky.

Roxas looked up and felt a fat globule of rain slap him in the eye.

"Ow," he whined, trying to rub it out fiercely. Axel, of course, laughed at his misery. It looked like it was beginning to become habitual and that Roxas was going to have to live with his awful nasally laugh.

"Let's go inside," the red-head yanked Roxas up by the shoulder, to the point where it was actually painful. He almost yelled at the older teen but bit back the retort, remembering his status suddenly. Oh Yevon. Was he going to have to hold back the whole time, the indefinite time, he was there?

Within seconds the sky was emptying its contents into Radiant Garden. Roxas half ran, half hobbled his way back to the french windows with the rough help of Axel.

Axel threw open the door with his free hand and dragged Roxas into the room and throwing him onto the bed very unceremoniously. It was so unceremonious that Roxas's coccyx crashed into the bed frame, earning a yelp from the blond and causing his leg to reflexively kick out. It kicked into Axel's leg and cruel gravity did the rest of the work as this caused Axel to trip over and onto Roxas in his position on the bed.

Roxas breathed carefully as the soaking redhead squashed him into the bed, his shocked face, green eyes suddenly wide open and mouth a little ajar, just a few millimetres away from his own as he realised they were in this wet embrace. Roxas wimpered involuntarily as Axel laid heavily on his wounded torso. He could feel Axel's arms pressed between his own arms where they'd landed, one had landed hard on his chest as it fell to the bed and Roxas could still feel the burning brush of the collision. He felt Axel's legs between his own in the twisted position they had fallen in. They wriggled for a moment, trying to gain a grasp on the floor. Roxas expected him to jump up then, and brush it off with some casual grace he expected a prince to be able to use as easily as Roxas could pull off his disinterested manner. But instead, Axel seemed to smirk – still with the smirking?! – and squeeze his limbs tighter around Roxas's. But before Roxas could cry out "harassment!" Axel had indeed hopped off. Roxas realised he'd squeezed around him to get a better hold so he could get up and not just to touch Roxas.

He waved aside his bizarre sense of disappointment.

"Jeez Rox, that's harassment you know. You can't just pull people on top of you like that."

He looked flustered somehow as he went to shut the doors, which were blowing in cold wind and rain. Roxas decided that Axel was a bad prince.

"Hey! That wasn't my fault! That was _you_ landing on top of _me_!" Roxas sat upright, with a little pain, gripping his sides.

"Whatever you say, Rox."

"First of all," said Roxas. Then remembered who he was speaking to. "First of all, OK."

Axel looked at him for a moment, then seemed to shrug to himself and turned away.

"I'll leave you now," he said and Roxas could detect something that sounded a little like bitterness. "Goodnight, Roxas."

"Wait, Your Highness."

Axel's shoulders tensed.

"Call me Axel."

"Axel," said Roxas. Suddenly lost at what to say. "Uh." Why had he even tried to get Axel to stay? "Uh. Goodnight."

Axel's shoulders dropped.

"Night," he said. Then he left, shutting the door softly behind him.

Roxas crawled under the duvet covers, suddenly very tired, and let himself dream into a comfortable sleep. One he assumed was much more comfortable than Sora's in his little cot, being watched by those freaky princesses.

* * *

**an:** HELLO AGAIN AND MASSIVE APOLOGIES. UNI CAUGHT UP WITH ME. THEN SUMMER HOLIDAYS CAUGHT UP WITH ME. but i have a full plan now and i will write a chapter ~once a week hopefully. i promise 3 i don't know what the fuck happened in this chapter, we'll just go with it. basically axel is a prince and roxas doesn't know how to deal with that.

p.s. i apologise for any terrible typos etc; my keyboard is bad and i am lazy eheh


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